Fifteen cars of the Pan Am Railways train came off the tracks in Mattawamkeag early this morning, spilling a couple of gallons of crude oil at most, Maine environmental officials say.

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Hear more from Samantha WarrenOriginally Aired: 3/7/2013 3:30 PM

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The derailment this morning in northern Maine of a train carrying crude oil resulted in some of the black stuff being spilled, but not much.

The train, operated by Pan Am Railways, came off the tracks at 5 a.m. in Mattawamkeag, in Penobscot County. According to a Pan Am executive, 15 cars carrying oil from North Dakota to Canada derailed, and 13 of them tipped over sideways, spilling a couple of gallons, at most.

Samantha Warren is a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which is responsible for cleaning up oil spills. She says the movement by rail of crude oil across Maine to refineries in the Canadian maritimes has increased significantly in the last year.

"Last year we looked at 5 million barrels being moved through the state of Maine," she says. That's about 210 million gallons, she says, which is still less than 10 perent of the amount of crude that gets shipped across Maine by pipeline from the coast.